Thank you, Mr. Guy. Mr. Nakimayak.

Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Minister Schumann.

The main one there is going to be the Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund for $6,746,000. There are a bunch of things that are broken down in there that we have shared with committee: the Government Greenhouse Gas Grant Fund, the Large Scale Commercial and Industrial Greenhouse Gas Grant Fund, incremental Arctic Energy Alliance funding, and Active Forestry Carbon Sequestration, and then there is also delivery of Investing in Canada Infrastructure plan. That's it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Nakimayak.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks to the Minister for that. Getting back to that, you talk about the Arctic Energy Alliance. There's $1.6 million. I know it's run not by the government, but for the government. Mr. Chair, I think a good thing for the Minister and his department to look at is there are other types of alternative energy. When it comes to that, I think the territory, but Canada as a whole, is far, far behind. This is not coming from myself. This is coming from some constituents who complain that the Arctic Energy Alliance, it's an expensive way to hand out efficient light bulbs and things like that. Like, I said, that's not coming from me. I just might be putting a little bug in the Minister's ear to look at that program, and see how we could advance that in the territory. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the things that we did in the last little bit is we did a program review of Arctic Energy Alliance. We've updated committee on that to restructure that, to see that we -- this is a public facing energy efficiency and conservation renewal alternative energy program for the residents of the Northwest Territories. We wanted to make sure that these new programs lined up with the needs of the funding that we received, and we've rejigged a good portion of it. With the additional funding that we've got, we'll be able to expand some of our programs, and I believe that some of the stuff that we've reallocated money to will put pressure on us in the House here because some of these programs are tapped out so early. I think it's a good fit now going forward, and we've got some stable funding for a number of years to help residents of the Northwest Territories to be able to access these programs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Nakimayak.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that. That's a good response. On the next line, I know MTS, I gave the Minister a hard time last year on MTS, and I know it's not an easy undertaking to take over something like that, and it takes multiple departments to make it work good, and I commend the department for that, actually. I see that there's no funding for the next couple of years. Coming with that, the cost of fuel has risen up in our region. I'm just wondering if the Minister can shed some light on that, looking forward into 2019 and 2020 and the year after? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The reason there's no line item here is because it has a revolving fund now, so now, as most Members know, this thing has to run on its own merit, which we've been successful in the last couple of years.

To answer the question about what we're going to do going forward, we've recently sent a letter to committee outlining our services update, what we want to do going forward, and lay out some of the stuff that we've done in the past calendar year with the Marine Transportation Services Initiative. Yes, we were challenged this year, as pretty much everybody knows. I've been asked a number of questions in the House. I've been asked on national television about the circumstances around the sea ice challenges that we've had.

To update committee, the letter that we sent there, we're looking at a number of things to help make the resupply a lot, you know, lesson-learned, I guess, from last year. One of the ones we're trying to do is move up our schedule a little bit earlier in the year to supply the communities. Now, that's easy enough said. That's going to be conditional on sea ice again. We're working very closely with the Canadian Coast Guard to help them with the monitoring of ice, and what kind of services they can provide us with. Also, the other side of it is the fuel supply. Last year, we ran into some conditions with the supplier having the fuel supplied in a timely manner, and these are things that are subject to getting these things to the community earlier than later. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Nakimayak.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that response. Last year was a tough ice year, and Transport Canada forecasts 2019 to be an even worse year. It's good to hear that the Minister is looking at plans to serve the communities, and hopefully sooner, if we can. I know, during last year's sitting, I asked the Minister about plans for Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, and I'm just wondering, I know this is an O and M budget, but I'm just looking to see where they are on that aspect from a 30,000-foot view. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are having a look at Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk from an operational perspective of what we can do in the long-term to possibly help mitigate some of these circumstances that can arise from sea ice challenges, or even fuel shortages. One of the things I think that we need to have a look at, and the department is looking at scoping out, is what infrastructure do we have in place in those two communities, and what would need to be put in there to help mitigate the factor, particularly around the resupply of fuel and the storage capacity that we have in these two communities. That's part of our operational review that MTS is continuing to look at. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Nakimayak.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that. Looking at that, talking about fuel, fuel services and long-term plans, there's a lot of infrastructure up in the North that we don't see as civilians. There are radar sites and other types of infrastructure that need heating and need fuel for transportation. It might be worth something in the long run for MTS to think about that, and possibly take other contracts rather than just the territory on a much bigger, bigger scale as the Arctic opens. I just want to hear what the Minister has to say on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I've been questioned in the House last shipping season about what we were doing around some of this commercial activity that we are doing, MTS is going to continue, of course, to contract with Imperial Oil to supply and deliver fuel to Norman Wells. That's in place, and it is there for a number of years going forward.

We are laying out what our marine charter services and support are going to be going forward, and one of the things that we are looking at is how can we support the federal government with the North Warning Fuel Supply program in the Western Arctic. Those discussions are ongoing for sure.

We are going to probably end up going back to Prudhoe Bay this year. I think we have some interest in delivering some natural gas production models up there. We've got to continue to look at these sorts of things. A lot of people had the confusion last time going around that we are looking after industrial customers without looking after ourselves first, and that's clearly not the case. I've clearly laid that out in our public briefing. One of the reasons we want to get these new double-hulled barges is so we can make fewer trips to service the community. Right now, the way it's laid out with the barges that we have, we've got to make multiple trips to go there. When we get the possession of our new double-hulled barges, the four of them that the tender just closed on here recently that we're evaluating, it's going to help us do the seasonal marine resupply program in a better manner. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Nakimayak.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's good to hear, actually. Having that little bit of infrastructure could probably go a long way to serving the coastal communities, and even outside the territory, and outside the country. I appreciate the hard work that they're doing as a department to refine something that was working, but barely working by a shoestring. Other than that, I don't have really anything else for this section, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Comment noted. Next, we have Mr. McNeely.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question is related to pages 244 and 245. I notice quite a variety of different programs with budget amounts to them. I recall this government in previous Assemblies conducted a geothermal potential study from the many federal low-emission green funding sources. Have there been any discussions with the federal government to secure funding for a pilot project related to the geothermal? Thank you, Mr. Chair.